Supreme Court

Money Battle For 2020 Presidential Campaign Favors Trump, And Gives Bloomberg And Steyer An Argument For Their Candidacies For President

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The Donald Trump Presidential campaign is spending more than all Democrats combined, and that is very worrisome.

This is all due to the Citizens United Case of the Supreme Court in 2010, allowing corporations and individuals to spend as much as they want.

This makes a case for a billionaire such as Michael Bloomberg or Tom Steyer to be the nominee, since they can outspend or match the Trump campaign, although neither competes well in the polls, and only Steyer has been in some of the debates.

Sadly, this could end up the results, although far from desirable.

It would disillusion millions of Democrats, however, who might stay home and not vote.

It will be interesting to see how caucus and primary voters react to Bloomberg and Steyer, and if they react that these two candidates are viable due to their financial resources.

Nancy Pelosi Right To Demand Fair Impeachment Trial, But Mitch McConnell Has Control, So Trial May Be Delayed

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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is delaying the sending of the two impeachment articles against Donald Trump to the Senate, due to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s plans to stage a phony trial, without any witnesses or evidence.

So it is a game of the powerful woman leader of the lower house of Congress against the powerful male leader of the US Senate.

The result may be an extended delay in the commencement of the trial, but as Pelosi has said, Donald Trump has still been impeached, only the third such case in American history, and nothing will delete that as part of his legacy, and eventually in his obituary.

Trump has been denounced and condemned as a law breaker, and this insures that he will go down as a Presidential failure and disaster, at the bottom of the list of Presidents for all time, unlikely to rise above any other President on the list.

Nancy Pelosi, the most powerful woman in American history, will go down as one of the greatest Speakers in the history of the House of Representatives, alongside Sam Rayburn, Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, and Henry Clay.

And Mitch McConnell will go down as one of the worst Senate Majority Leaders, who refused to move the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court in 2016, refusing even a hearing; who has been a total lackey to Donald Trump, and with his wife Elaine Chao being Secretary of Transportation under Trump; and who has sat on nearly 400 pieces of legislation passed by the House of Representatives in 2019, as the Senate becomes totally ineffective as a legislative body.

Hopefully, the state of Kentucky, where his public opinion ratings are the lowest of any Senator, will defeat him and retire him in November 2020 when he comes up for reelection after 36 years in the upper chamber.

The Most Evil Man In The US Senate: Mitch McConnell Of Kentucky, Setting Out To Destroy The Legal System And Legal Precedents!

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky clearly is the most evil man in the Senate, setting out to destroy the legal system and legal precedents that have been accomplished over many decades and administrations.

He is striving, successfully, to set up a judicial system which will set America back legally for the next thirty years, as his legacy. His refusal to allow a hearing for Merrick Garland, Barack Obama’s nominee to replace Antonin Scalia in 2016, and the rushed confirmation of many unqualified and despicable district court and circuit nominees for life terms in office is insuring a gloomy future for civil rights and civil liberties. And now, he has said he will push the confirmation of a Supreme Court judge if either Ruth Bader Ginsburg or Stephen Breyer were to leave the Court in 2020.

His corruption is out of control, and his wife, Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, has clearly been involved in corrupt financial actions while working for Donald Trump. This power couple should not be able to have such power and influence, with the obvious conflict of interest that promotes their support of Donald Trump, and unwillingness on the part of McConnell to challenge the President on his abuse of power and obstruction of justice.

Hopefully, again they will pay the price in legal charges brought against Elaine Chao, and the defeat of Mitch McConnell for reelection in 2020. Mitch McConnell has violated his oath of office and subverted the democratic process. And Elaine Chao has proved she is yet another of the corrupt cabinet officers under Donald Trump!

65 Years Since Supreme Court Decision In Brown V. Board Of Education

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A week ago, the nation commemorated the 65th anniversary of the most significant and far reaching Supreme Court decision of the 20th century, Brown V. Board of Education, decided in 1954 by an unanimous 9-0 decision, spurred on by the second greatest Chief Justice in American history, Earl Warren.

This decision, an extremely rare unanimous case, has had a dramatic effect on America, regarding race relations and equal opportunity, no debate about that.

But at the same time, there is still much racism and prejudice, spurred on by Donald Trump, after the inspiring election before him of Barack Obama, as the ugly side of human relations came to the forefront.

And although there has been progress as compared to before 1954, there still is too much inequity in schools and funding, particularly in “Red” states in the South and Midwest.

But we also see more social intermingling of the different racial groups, as generations of children have friends of people of different backgrounds, and more mixed race children are being born, since skin color has become for many young people not an issue as much as it was their grandparents and even parents.

There is still a lot of work and effort required to promote a truly multiracial society in a nation which will be majority minority in 2040 and beyond.

The Federal Court System Is Going Back To 19th Century Mentality With Mediocre Trump Appointees Unwilling To Accept “Stare Decisis” On Major Issues Supposedly Settled, And Undermining American Democracy

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America is in danger of seeing the federal court system being hijacked by President Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and the Republican Party, and putting us back in the late 19th century “Gilded Age”, where unregulated capitalism prevailed; segregation reigned; labor was victimized; the environment was being destroyed by industrial waste; and women had no basic legal rights.

Many Trump appointees to the lower federal courts are totally incompetent, and only placed in their lifetime positions to undermine all of the progress brought about under many different Presidents and Congresses in the past century to advance human rights.

Trump appointees seem ready to defy “stare decisis”, the concept of past precedent having a major impact on many areas of the law, when cases comes to the Supreme Court and other federal courts.

So we may be seeing the end of abortion rights for women; denial of equality of racial and religious minorities; refusal to promote a more fair justice system; treating gays, lesbians and transgender in a discriminatory manner; and the reassertion of unregulated corporate power.

Is Chief Justice John Roberts On Road To Judicial Leadership Of John Marshall, Charles Evans Hughes, And Earl Warren?

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Chief Justice John Roberts is clearly a conservative on the Supreme Court, but he is also very much aware of and concerned about the turmoil in American society, and concerned about the long term reputation of the Court, as well as his own historical image, since he has a sense of history.

So Roberts has surprised Court watchers in some of his decisions, and he has emerged as the “swing” vote on the Court, as only he can prevent the Court from going so hard to the Right that it will lose its image of being an institution that promotes fairness and equity under the Constitution.

So expect that John Roberts will become a true judicial leader on the level of John Marshall (1801-1835), Charles Evans Hughes (1930-1941), and Earl Warren (1953-1969).

These three Chief Justices, generally acknowledged as the three greatest of the 16 previous Chief Justices before Roberts came to the Court in 2005, all demonstrated courage and principle, and came into conflict with Presidents.

Marshall had to deal with the strong opposition of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, while Charles Evans Hughes had Franklin D. Roosevelt challenging the Court during the Great Depression, and Earl Warren steered the Court in a direction not always agreed with by Republicans Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon.

Now John Roberts has to deal with Donald Trump, who he has already issued a criticism, when Trump spoke of “Obama Judges”, “Bush Judges”, and “Clinton Judges”, with Roberts asserting there is no such thing as judges based on a President, but rather judges adhering to the Constitution as they see it.

This makes it quite clear to many observers that Roberts is ready to take a more moderate stand than he does typically, as he did in saving the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) in 2012.

Expect Roberts to side, if necessary, with the four “liberals” on the Court (chosen by Bill Clinton and Barack Obama), with the constitutional crisis that has clearly arisen, including trying to convince the four conservatives selected by both President Bushes and even the two Trump judges, to consider how the Court was unanimous in curbing President Richard Nixon in the Watergate Scandal 45 years ago, and Bill Clinton in the Paula Jones lawsuit 22 years ago.

It is the Supreme Court that is being looked to as the ultimate government branch to rein in a President far more abusive than Richard Nixon, and to reassert separation of powers and checks and balances.

Donald Trump Creates More Turmoil As He Promotes War On The Rule Of Law

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Donald Trump and his underlings are creating more turmoil as he promotes war on the rule of law, determining to use military expenditures to build his Mexico Wall.

That is unconstitutional, as only Congress appropriates funds for any spending in the national budget.

There will be a court case pursued on this, and the Supreme Court will rule on this, and it is hard to imagine them upholding a President misusing federal funds that have not been passed through Congressional committees and a vote of both houses of Congress.

Terrible Idea To Have Notable Third Party Or Independent Presidential Candidate In 2020 Presidential Election

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The thought that a notable third party or independent Presidential candidate might participate in the 2020 Presidential election is a terrible idea.

It would cause a potential Electoral College disaster, allowing a major party nominee to win with low 40s or high 30s percentage of the popular vote.

So when we hear that former Ohio Governor John Kasich or former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is thinking of just that, it is clearly a danger sign that might help Donald Trump or Mike Pence win the next term in the Presidency.

That would be total disaster for the nation, and would take the already downward moral and ethical trend in America to continue, and insure an extremist right wing agenda into the mid 2020s, including a totally extreme right wing Supreme Court and lower federal courts to go on for 30 or more years into the future.

It would also likely make it impossible for the Senate to go Democratic, and for the House of Representatives to remain Democratic, once we had the confusion of a well known third party or independent Presidential candidate siphoning votes, more likely from the Democratic nominee.

While there is no way legally to prevent this, we have to hope that sanity will rule, and we will get a two way race, with all of its attendant shortcomings, rather than the mess that a third serious candidate could bring to the American political system.

The Political Year 2018 Reviewed, And Hopes For A Political Renaissance

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The year 2018 saw the drastic blunders and mean spirited nature of the 45th President come to full fruition.

It was the year of diplomatic, economic, environmental, and social steps backward, wiping out a lot of the good that has been done by Presidents and Congresses of both parties in the past 70 plus years since World War II.

It was the year of the passing of political leaders who always had the motivation to do good, even when they sometimes went the wrong direction on specific issues—John McCain and George H. W. Bush.

It was a year when the Federal Judiciary stood up to Donald Trump most of the time, but also a year when extreme right wing judges were approved, and a Supreme Court Justice, Brett Kavanaugh, similar to Clarence Thomas in his mistreatment of women, was confirmed despite that reality.

It was also the year of more gun related deaths and opioid deaths than have died in war since the end of World War II.

It was the year when schools and religious institutions and public gathering places were subjected to mass death by people who desperately needed mental health intervention.

It was the year when racism, nativism, misogyny all had massive revival, assisted by the behavior of the Chief Executive in the Oval Office.

It was the year when the Republican Party lost all credibility as it refused to stand up and condemn the unstable behavior of Donald Trump, and allowed him to hijack the historical reputation of the party.

But in the midst of all this gloom, it was also the year of the rise of women, racial and religious minorities, gays and lesbians, and young people to more political power and influence than has ever been seen in American politics and society.

The Democratic Party became the bastion of future hopes of reform and change, and they have the backing of millions of Americans who desperately want a different direction for American politics and society.

2019 needs to be the year of movement against Donald Trump, and hold him accountable for his crimes and sins, and the likelihood of the Trump Presidency coming to an end by criminal indictments against family members, leading to the resignation of Trump, as occurred with Richard Nixon, seems likely.

The future of American democracy and constitutional government is at stake as we enter 2019, but the massive “Blue Wave” evokes hope and optimism.

Let us all hope for a better, more productive 2019 politically and socially.

The Struggle Of Donald Trump With Chief Justice John Roberts More Dangerous Than Earlier Challenges Of Presidents To Supreme Court Chief Justices

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Donald Trump has challenged Chief Justice John Roberts and the Supreme Court, just as he has challenged every other institution of government, but Chief Justice John Roberts seems well prepared to deal with Trump, if and when he gets out of hand.

It is certainly a dangerous struggle, as Donald Trump has an authoritarian bent unlike any earlier President, but it seems clear that Roberts is ready to do what must be done to keep the President within the Constitution.

Earlier in history, there were major confrontations of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson with Chief Justice John Marshall; Abraham Lincoln with Chief Justice Roger Taney; Franklin D. Roosevelt with Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes; Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon with Chief Justice Earl Warren; Richard Nixon with Chief Justice Warren Burger; and Barack Obama with Chief Justice John Roberts.

But Trump has demanded that the court system favor him in all of his executive orders, and other executive actions, but the Court has refused to back him on a regular basis, leading Trump to say that there are Clinton Judges, Obama Judges, and Bush Judges, but Roberts responding that there are no such descriptions, as all are dedicated to the rule of law, a true rebuke of the President.

On a recent executive order to deny asylum automatically to those who seek it, the Court ruled 5-4 against it, with Roberts joining the four Democratic appointments on the Court, and he has earlier upheld ObamaCare in 2012, and at other times, has sided against conservatives.

It is clear that Roberts sees the Supreme Court as “his Court”, and is concerned about the reputation of the Court long term, so one can be assured that if a case comes up against Trump trying to grab too much power, that he will, likely vote against him, as the entire Court, including three Nixon appointees, voted against him in US V. Nixon of 1974, and when the Court, including two Clinton appointees unanimously voted against Clinton in the Clinton V. Jones Case of 1997.